D AV I D M A C H
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DAVID MACH RA b .
1 9 5 6 ,
M E T H I L
( S C O T L A N D )
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INTRODU CT I O N Often considered as the artist of immoderation, David Mach caught the public eye in the 1980’s with his colossal installations made out of manufactured products such as Polaris, a life-sized replica of a submarine made out of 6000 pile car tyres, the accurate copy of a Rolls-Royce made out of 1,500 books or the 50 tons of piled magazines forming five massive classical columns positioned to appear to be holding the roof of the Brooklyn Museum. He is known for taking advantage of the aesthetics and the proliferation of every day materials and for introducing them into the inner circle of art, exposing the abuse of the consumer society with humour and irony. David Mach is a Scottish artist who was born in 1956 in Methil and who now works and lives in London. He studied at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design and then at the Royal College of Art in London in 1982. In 1992, he was nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize at the Tate Gallery in London. The works of David Mach are part of the most prestigious private and public collections such as The British Council of London or The Tate. In addition to his colossal art pieces, David Mach handles with remarkable talent much more delicate materials such as matchsticks, coat hangers, postcards or playing cards to assemble smaller-scale masterpieces. David Mach plays with art pieces which play with our illusions and pushes the viewer to look beyond appearances. He takes the observer away from reality so he can take a fresh look on his surroundings. He alters the trivial, diverts the industrial object from its function and just like a magician, he transforms it into a masterpiece. “I am addicted to repetition but I like exaggeration even better. Society forces us to an appropriate behaviour but art authorizes artists to extravagance and excesses”, says David Mach to sum up his art.
DAVID MACH RA
Filthy Looker (2013) Po s t c a r d c o l l a g e o n b o a r d 184cm x 184cm, Unique
DAVID MACH RA
O. K . K . O ( 2 0 1 3 ) Po s t c a r d c o l l a g e o n b o a r d 184cm x 184cm, Unique
DAVID MACH RA
Benjamin Franklin (2014) Po s t c a r d c o l l a g e o n b o a r d 184cm x 148cm, Unique
DAVID MACH RA
Mar ilyn (2013) Pin collage on foam 1 1 0 c m d i a m e t e r, U n i q u e
DAVID MACH RA
Flesh and Blood (2013) Pin collage on foam 1 1 0 c m d i a m e t e r, U n i q u e
DAVID MACH RA
Snow Leopard (2013) Match Stick Sculpture 22cm x 22cm x 23cm
DAVID MACH RA
Beast (2013) Coat Hanger Sculpture 66cm x 40cm x 60cm
DAVID MACH RA
Spike the Cheetah (2012) Coat Hanger Sculpture 90cm x 227cm x 70cm
DAVID MACH RA
Killer Instinct (2013) Pin Sculpture 85cm x 62cm x 68cm
DAVID MACH RA
Fright Night (2013) Po s t c a r d c o l l a g e o n b o a r d 153cm x 153cm, Unique
DAVID MACH RA
Vo o d o o C h i l l e ( 2 0 1 3 ) Po s t c a r d c o l l a g e o n b o a r d 153cm x 153cm, Unique
BIOGRAPHY 1956
Born in Methil, Fife (Scotland)
1974/79
Duncan of Jordanston College of Art, Dundee (Scotland)
1975
Pat Holmes Memorial Prize
1976
Duncan of Drumfork Travelling Scholarship
1977
SED minor travelling scholarship
1978
SED major travelling scholarship
1979/82
Royal College of Art (RCA), London
1982
RCA Drawing Prize
1988
Nominated for the Turner Prize, Tate Gallery, London
1992
Won Lord Provost’s Award, RGI, Glasgow
1998
Elected Member of the Royal Academy of Arts
1999
Visiting Professor, Sculpture Department, Edinburgh College of Art
2000
Appointed Professor of Sculpture, Royal Academy Schools, London
2002
Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Dundee University
2004
Made Honorary Member of the Royal Scottish Academy
First Visiting Professor of Inspiration and Discovery at the University of Dundee (Scotland)
2006
Elected to the board of the National Portrait Gallery
2011 David Mach-Precious Light, City Arts Centre, Edinburgh 2010 Oct “Iconography”, Opera Gallery, London 2009 Mach, Opera Gallery, Geneva 2008 July-Aug “Size doesn’t matter”, Art Center de Vishal, Haarlem, Holland Oct “Breaking Images”, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong Oct “David Mach”, DUTAC, Dubai Oct-Nov “Tête à Tête”, Jill George Gallery, London 2007 Feb-April “David Mach-In Seine”, Opera Garnier, Paris April-May “David Mach”, Forum Gallery, Los Angeles May-June “Postcard Collages”, Jill George Gallery, London Sept-Nov “Iconography”, Jérome de Noirmont, Paris Nov-Jan “David Mach”, Forum Gallery, NY 2006 March “David Mach”, Dundee Oct-Nov “Visit London”, Touring exhibition, London, Milan, Berlin, Barcelona Oct-Nov “The State of Heads”, Jill George Gallery, London Oct-Nov “Fortune”, Mint Club, Hong Kong 2005 March-April “New Collages and Sculpture, Forum Gallery, NY 2004 Oct-Nov “New Collages”, Jill Georges Gallery, London 2003 Sept-Nov “Straight Up”, Galerie Jérome de Noirmont, Paris 2002 Jan Drawings, Marks & Spencer Head Office, London March-Sept “Hell Bent”, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow Oct “New Collages of London”, Jill Georges Gallery, London 2001 April-Jan Touring exhibition of original artwork of “Portrait of Britain” – 17 different venues Oct-Nov Galerie IUFM Confluence(s), Lyon Nov Hugo Boss, Rome Nov “David Mach”, Galeria Communale d’Arte Moderna e Contempo- ranea, Rome 2000 June “The Mild Bunch”, APT Gallery, London Aug “David Mach at the Advance Factory”, Kilkenny Sept-Oct “Species”, Galerie Jérome de Noirmont, Paris Sept-Oct “New Drawings”, Jill George Gallery, London 1999 “The National Portrait” commissioned for the Self Portrait Zone, The Dome, Greenwich, London 1998 May-July “Columns”, CRDC, Nantes May-July “Drawings”, École des Beaux Arts, Nantes, France June “Train”, Darlington, UK Sept-Dec “David Mach”, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, USA Oct-Dec Touring Exhibition of Drawings, Cyprus Nov-Jan “The Great Outdoors”, Centre for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati USA 1997 March “David Mach”, Laurence Graham, London April-Sept “Heavy Duty”, Hamumche Gallery, Tel-Aviv June-Sept “The Last Detail”, Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, Paris June-July “New Drawings”, Jill George Gallery, London Oct “The Revels”, International Arts Festival, Melbourne 1996 June-July “Naked”, Jason & Rhodes Gallery, London Sept-Dec Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston-upon-Hull 1995 March-May “Whirl”, Summerlee Museum, Coatbridge May-June “David Mach: Sculpture”, Sunderland City Art Gallery July-Oct Matchheads”, Ace Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles
2011 Nov-Dec “Drawings”, Jill George Gallery, London Nov-Dec “David Mach”, Galerie Andate/Ritorno, Geneva 1994 Jan-April “Fully Furnished”, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego March-June “Freeze”, Musée Leon Dierx, Reunion Island April-May “Drawings”, CASK, Kitakyushu (Japan) April-May “Hako”, Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow May-June “Likeness Guaranteed”, Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall July-Aug “Headcase”, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen Aug-Sept Sculpture Installation in the Sun Pavilion, Harrogate Nov-Dec “Temple at Tyre”, Leith Docks, Edinburgh Dec “David Mach”. Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate 1993 March-May “David Mach: Sculpture”, Ujazdowski Castle, Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw April-June “Between the Lines”, Hakone Open-Air Museum (Japan) May-Sept “David Mach: New Work”, Studio Casoli, Milan Sept-Oct “Square Town/Town Square”, Seagate Gallery, Dundee Sept-Oct “Matchheads”, the Gallery, Essex University, Colchester Dec-Jan “Flayed, Stretched and Tanned”, Walsall Art Gallery, Walsall 1992 Jan-Feb Orpheus Gallery, Belfast March-April Barbara Toll Fine Art, NY May-Aug “Welcome to Euromach”, Galerie Nikki Diana Marquardt, Paris 1991 April-Aug “David Mach: Sculpture”, Ace Contemporary Art, Los Angeles May-Aug “David Mach: Sculpture”, Maurice Keitelman Gallery, Brussels July Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago Oct-April “It Takes Two”, Euston Square Gardens, London 1990 March-April “Here to stay”, Tramway, Glasgow May “Chicago Trophies”, Chicago Art Fair, Chicago June-July “Over to the Right a Bit”, House of Ukrainian Artists, Kiev Oct-Nov “Creature Comforts”, Pittsburgh Centre for the Arts, Pittsburgh 1989 Jan-Feb “Stream of Consciousness”, Artspace, San Francisco Jan-March “David Mach”, FGG Gallery, Frankfurt Feb-April “Tamed, Trained and Framed”, Maurice Keitelman Gallery, Brussels June-Aug “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité-A New Utopia”, Galerie Nikki Diana Marquardt, Paris June “Ploughman’s Lunch”, Middleton Hall, Milton Keynes Aug “Kissin Cousins”, Hamburg Messe, Hamburg Sept-Oct “Along Classic Lines”, Melbourne Spoleto Festival, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Oct-Nov “Home Cookin”, Galerie 175, Brussels Oct-Nov “Wet and Dry”, Cultural Centre, Madrid Dec-Jan “Five easy Pieces”, Barbara Toll Fine Art, NY Dec-March “A Hair’s Breadth”, Brooklyn Museum, NY 1988 March-June “A Hundred and One Dalmatians”, Tate Gallery, London April-May Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan (Canada) May-June “A Million Miles Away”, Barbara Toll Fine Art, NY May-Nov “Signs of Life”, Provinciaal Museum, Hasselt (Belgium) May “Multi-Storey Car Park”, BBC Television Centre, London Aug “A Nice Location”, Kawasaki City Museum, Tokyo Sept-Jan “The Art that Came Apart”, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal Oct-Dec “David Mach”, Galerie Ek’Ymose 1, Bordeaux Nov-Dec “Parvis 2”, Tarbes (France)
Nov-Dec Galerie Antada/Ritorno, Geneva 1987 May Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Centre du Verre, Paris June-July “Si avui t’endinses en els boscos”, Fundacio Joan Miró, Barcelona June-Sept “Adding Fuel to the Fire”, Metronom Gallery, Barcelona Sept-Oct “Natural Causes”, Wiener Secession,Vienna Oct-Dec One of two British Representatives at the 19th Biennale, Sao Paolo Dec “Chinese Whispers”, Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London 1986 Jan Cleveland Art Gallery, Middlesbrough April “David Mach Roadshow”, Barbara Toll Fine Art, NY April-May Mercer Union Gallery, Toronto June-Aug Herning Kunstmuseum, Herning (Denmark) Aug “Fuel for the Fire”, Riverside Studios, London Aug-Sept Seagate Gallery, Dundee Sept-Oct “If you go down to the woods”, Corner House, Manchester Sept-Oct “Chimney Sweep”, Town Hall, Manchester Nov Sherratt & Hughes Bookshop, Leadenhall market, London Dec National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford Dec-Jan Hacienda Club, Manchester 1985 Feb-April “Towards a Landscape”, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford Oct-Nov Galerie Foksal, Warsaw Dec Stoke City Museum, Stoke-on-Trent 1983 Jan Mock Shop, Kingston Polytechnic, London Sept-Oct Castaways, Galerie Antada/Ritorno, Geneva Nov-Dec Ateliers Contemporains d’Arts Plastiques, St Brieuc, France Nov Polaris, Installation made out of old tyres, outside the Royal Festival Hall, South bank London. 1982 Aug-Sept Lisson Gallery, London Nov New 57 Gallery, London Dec-Jan Galerie t Venster, Rotterdam 1981 March Richard Booth Bookshop, Hay-on Wye (Wales)
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